For Such A Time As This 4-6-20 – Tim Speicher

To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren, 

About This Week’s Love Feast Service: 

Love Feast is a Maundy Thursday Evening Service that has been practiced in the Church of the Brethren for over 300 years.  It is modeled after the last evening Jesus spent with his disciples, including the washing of feet/hands, a meal together, and the bread and cup communion.  This service, more than any other ritual of our tradition, forms us as a community of faith that seeks to follow Jesus by gently and humbling serving one another, our communities and our world.  In this service we remember the life, teachings and death of Jesus, as we count the costs of discipleship and anticipate the joy of Easter Morning.   

We are putting the final touches on our virtual Love Feast service for this Thursday evening.  You will receive a link for the service on Thursday around 6:45pm.  We are encouraging you to begin the video at 7pm, so that we can all experience the service at the same time.  If 7pm doesn’t work for your schedule, the video will be available for you to view later at whatever time is convenient for you.   

Since we will all be participating from our homes, you will need to do a few things to prepare.   

• First, prepare a light meal for yourself and others who are participating in your home.  The traditional Love Feast meal includes a beef and rice soup, a buttered roll and some water to drink.   Any type of soup or other menu options are fine, as long as the meal is simple and can be easily eaten in a few minutes.   

• Second, prepare for the foot or hand washing part of the service by having ready a bowl of warm water, with a wash cloth and towel.  We will suggest using a wet wash cloth to gently wash your own hands or feet, or the hands or feet of each other of those living in your home.  We have allowed just a couple of minutes in the video for the washing part of the service.   

• And third, Jesus used common bread and wine for the communion, or bread and cup, part of the service.  Prepare a few small pieces of bread and a small cup(s) of juice for this part of the service.  We traditionally use grape juice, but any type of juice or drink is fine. 

We will miss being physically together this Thursday evening, but we will be together in spirit.  We have planned a beautiful service, which includes the sharing of numerous musical gifts and many familiar sisters and brothers sharing in the scripture readings.  We hope you can join us. 

Our denomination is also planning a live-streamed Love Feast Service to begin at 8pm this Thursday evening.  This will be a chance to experience Love Feast with sisters and brothers throughout the Church of the Brethren.  Some may wish to choose one or the other service for their Maundy Thursday Love Feast experience, or you are welcome to experience both services, as they begin at different times.  If you begin our service at 7pm, you will have time to join the denomination service at 8pm.  We will send the link to both services in the 6:45pm email this Thursday evening. 

About Our Wave Project: 

We are excited about all the people who are participating in creating our “Let’s Do the Wave” video project.  The deadline to submit photos or videos, or to get Bethany to video you, is Tuesday (tomorrow) evening.  You can email Bethany at bhoffer@palmyracob.org.   

Reminder:   

If you know someone who does not have email, please call them and offer to read this email to them and share this devotion with them.  And, check in on how they are doing.  

Today’s Devotion: 

I am thankful to Tim Speicher for providing today’s devotion.  Tim and Jill (his wife), are both retired Church of the Brethren pastors.  They have been worshipping with us this year and will be joining our congregation in the months ahead.  They live in Reading, PA.   you wish to respond to Tim directly, his email address is pastorspeicher@gmail.com.  

 

Shalom, 

Dennis 
 

Scripture – Matthew 6:27, 34 

And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. 

Thoughts 

Worry has a range of expressions from simple anxiety of concern for the well-being of another person (“I worry about my brother”) to all-out, anxiety-driven fear of the unknown. Jesus’ caution to us is the distraction from real life when thinking of possibilities. Not only does anxious worry fail in adding even a single hour to one’s lifetime, it takes away from the life you live today. So, we talk about taking one day at a time.  A favorite Ziggy cartoon featured the character with a calendar in hand: “I only worry about one day at a time. Right now, I am up to May 16, 2024!” It is this worry that initiates panic buying and hoarding. It is this fear that motivates anger and violence in a multitude of misdirected actions.  

Healthy application of worry is being a non-anxious presence in reaching out to others by phone and internet, maintaining human connection, inquiring about each other’s needs. This worry has the gift of creativity in developing daily meditations of encouragement and social media concerts for all to enjoy. We only have today to make real the love that we hold in our hearts. To live in the present moment is to affirm your faith that “there is nothing that you and God cannot handle together.” 

Prayer 

Let us be in prayer together.   

Our God, in all things we begin with thanksgiving for the gift of life. We seek the strength of your Spirit for facing and enduring the troubling concerns of today. May your Spirit’s peace be alive in us even as problems exist for extended periods of time. In the name of Jesus who counsels us in your ways of wisdom. Amen.